Page:Address on the opening of the Free Public Library of Ballarat East, on Friday, 1st. January, 1869.djvu/11



It is to me a source of unmixed pleasure, the enjoyment of which will not be limited to the fleeting hour, to have been honored with an invitation to assist to-day at the opening of your Free Public Library.

To have been associated with you, Mr Mayor, and your respected colleagues of the Committee on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of this building was a compliment of which you may believe me to be ever duly sensible. To see your enterprising labors brought to completion in so short a time, in a style which contributes so satisfactorily to the architectural embellishment of your town: to be received in a chamber so spacious, so commodious, so well stored already with so many books, chosen with such creditable discrimination, is gratifying to me in the extreme. You will allow my thanks to precede my warmest congratulations.

In a town so pre-eminently remarkable for industrial vitality as Ballarat, where each day brings to light new projects, blazing forth enticing share lists in companies with limited liability for the exploration of exhaustless mines of incredible richness, this goodly assemblage betokens a healthful condition of the body politic. Here, where we close with full hearts the volume of the departing year, in which are inscribed our sorrows and our joys; when about to enter into new vows